Andrew Harvey, Michelle Au march into second round of 2012 Australian Closed Championships
Mixed Doubles partners Andrew Harvey and Michelle Au played with great precision and cleared the first hurdle in 2012 Australian Closed Championships Sydney on August 29, 2012.
However, it was not an easy win as they had to work hard for 38 minutes to overpower Wing Ho Horace Leung-Chiao Ling Cheng.
Both teams displayed premium badminton skills to pile up final figures of 17-21, 21-14 and 21-14.
Though, the victorious pair slipped in the very first set but they managed to rise on their toes in ending two games and locked the honour in a commendable manner.
Meanwhile, the twosome of Wing Ho and Chiao Ling put a fluctuated performance and crashed out of the tournament.
They gained an immediate advantage by claiming the opening match point on merit but closing part of the tussle saw them surrendering tamely.
The first set started with their intensive invasion which took them to a respectable score position. They capitalised this early lead and pushed their rivals on the back-foot with a mountainous total of 11 at half time.
After mid-game break, Andrew and Michelle showed some spark and gathered some valuable points but this short campaign was not enough to avoid a 17-21 defeat.
However, this first set loss did not harm them much as they made amends by prevailing in the following game.
This time they changed their tactics and proved that their defence was as good as their attack. They enthralled the opposing team with a fine blend of power packed smashes and well-crafted drop net shots.
In the first half of the set, Andrew and Michelle made progress by ruling the court in few consecutive rallies and then doubled the pace by pocketing some uninterrupted points before interval.
Later part of the game also belonged to them as they did not give their challengers enough time to get settled and blew them away with a staggering knock of 21-14.
The decider proved a replay of the second set as Wing Ho-Chiao Ling, the suppressed duo of previous game, could not come out of their competitor’s influence and knelt down after reading 14-21 score.
This win took Andrew-Michelle in second round of the championships where they will be up against Steven Huynh-Victoria Wang.
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